Duality Striker (Serial 2)

Chapter 5 :: Arizona Ylfing

A briefing begins at Dr. Williams's office, with Mezos and Samza preparing holographic slides. Holograms depicting key locations of The Imperial Lands float above The Doc's desk.

Mezos displays the map of the Imperial Lands of Esthial. He says, "I received a note from our Mathilde a few minutes ago. She engaged in a meditation session to see where the other Mathilde ended up in. As I suspect, she got captured by Lexia forces."

Samza raises a finger. "Fortunately, we recorded the session when I convinced Mattie to wear the dream recorder prior to meditation. There's no sound though, but we caught a feed of two Lexia goons hauling Soldier-Mathilde into a magitech drop ship." The rabbit-fae loads a holographic snapshot of a passed out Soldier-Mathilde along with two distinct individuals sitting on the benches of the transport unit, opposite of each other.

Librascope-AI is not resolving the identities of the two Lexia soldiers, one male and one female.

The male looks heavily armored in white as he sits with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. His brown hair looks ruined and shuffled. A bandage sticks on his left cheek. Cracks, scratches, and dents decorate his armor, implying that he's been in a tough battle. Looks like Mathilde may have given him a beating before she passed out.

The female, dressed in a vibrant blue robe, sits on the bench across from the male. Unlike the male, she looks unharmed, her robe looking pristine and clean. Her hand is gripping on to a long white staff while a wide, evil grin paints her face. Pink swirling drills flank the sides of her head, adding style to her long, wavy hair. My best guess is they're high-ranking officers based on the intricate gold accents in their uniforms.

I ask, "Who do you think these two are?"

Mezos says, "Going by the gold accents, I'm assuming they're part of some elite royal guard. I just don't know their names."

Samza says, her voice loud and boisterous, "I just call the paladin-dude, Lars, until we get an official name. He looks like a Lars to me."

"Is he like special forces or something?" I ask, scratching my chin.

Mezos adjusts his glasses. "Not exactly. The Lexia Army's special forces unit, The Skyward Dragoons, comprises only — you guessed it — dragoons. The male looks like a paladin while the female is a mage of some kind. These guys probably work specifically for Queen Serahlyne II, and base themselves at Sky Fortress Zorntho."

Sky Fortress. A unique characteristic that sets the nation of Archaeus apart from the rest of the Imperial Lands. Librascope-AI gives me a rundown of what a Sky Fortress is. As the name implies, these fortresses levitate about 15,000 meters above the ground using magitech. Librascope-AI states Archaeus has four prominent sky fortresses, each specializing in a different task for the Lexia Imperial Army. For example, Sky Fortress Palompor trains mages and clerics, while Sky Fortress Baschenoa trains paladins and dragoons. Sky Fortress Sabingar specializes in unarmed combat. Finally, Sky Fortress Zorntho is all about the Queen's elite royal guard.

Mezos says to me, "When you dive tonight, I expect you to be in one of those four major sky fortresses. My best guess is Zorntho just on those two soldiers alone, but since our data is almost twenty years old. You might end up in a Sky Fortress that we have no data on."

"Besides rescuing Soldier-Mathilde, what else I'm looking for?" I ask.

Samza says, "Stuff about what the Lexia army is doing to fight The Nightmares, especially with airborne units."

Mezos taps on some virtual buttons on his holographic tablet. "I have updated the firmware on your Ad-Comm and Dream Recorder visor. Whenever you're ready, put that on—"